Ontario teen Annaleise Carr ends Lake Erie swim

One of the people on hand to greet Annaleise Carr in Port Dover Saturday morning after she completed a crossing of Lake Erie from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Long Point, Ontario, was her great-grandfather Art Hayward, of Simcoe. (MONTE SONNENBERG/QMI AGENCY)

MONTE SONNENBERG and Daniel R. Pearce, QMI Agency

PORT DOVER, Ont. — Annaleise Carr cut short her 75 km swim from Erie, Pa., to Port Dover early Saturday morning, opting instead to make landfall at Long Point.

Carr, who in 2012 became the youngest person to swim Lake Ontario, made the decision to end the crossing after being in the water for almost 24 hours, said her great-grandfather Art Hayward.

“Her body told her it was time to come out,” Hayward said after Carr arrived in Port Dover by boat to cheers from people who had lined the pier to welcome her. “She was mentally prepared to continue, but her body told her it was time. She pulled herself out. No one told her to do it.”

The swim, at 42 km, still counts as an official lake crossing. However, if she had made it to Port Dover, she would have held the record for the longest crossing of Lake Erie.

Organizers and fans called the swim a success, noting it raised $130,000 for Camp Trillium, the camp for kids with cancer, and is still a huge accomplishment.

“She’s touched a lot of people’s hearts,” Justin Lefebvre of Simcoe, Ont., said while waiting on the pier for Carr to arrive. “I hope she goes stronger next time.”

People had gathered at the beach in Port Dover on Friday in preparation of her arrival the next morning.

There was live music throughout the night, a bonfire, and a set of luminaries was lit and set along the shoreline.

The crowd dispersed at about 4 a.m. after it was announced Carr had landed at Long Point, on the north shore of Lake Erie.

People started returning to the pier two hours later, however, to give Carr — who made international headlines after crossing Lake Ontario at age 14 — a hero’s welcome.

They waved Canadian flags and cheered as her armada of ships came to shore.